Tag Archives: vegetables

Short thoughts on shell peas

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Shell peas had been given nearly-mythic status in my mind thanks to the ravings of my BIL, who swears that freshly shelled peas from my sister’s garden is one of his favorite summer foods. So, it was with great joy that I saw the CSA box would have shell peas (aka “English peas”) this past week. I was never much of a pea person until dh and I started dating and he would get me into canned peas as a decent side dish at dinnertime. After we had kids, we more firmly transitioned to frozen peas – typically, the 2lb bag with the grocery store brand label.

And then there’s shell peas. They’re going to be fantastic. Mythic. EPIC.

My verdict: They’re yummy, but they’re more trouble than they need to be worth. That’s not to say that I didn’t like them. I did – really, I did! But they didn’t blow me away enough to make me think that this is THE PEA FOR ME FOR NOW AND FOREVER.

First off, there’s some effort required in taking them from in-the-pod to not-in-the-pod. For the bag of approximately 2lbs of shell peas, I spent a little more than a half-hour to shell the lot of them, and I yielded just about 13oz of peas. Half of them were prepared last night, and the other half went back into the fridge to be prepared later in the week. Everything I’ve read about shell peas said that you should eat them pretty soon after they’re picked, so we’re trying to be good about getting through them.

Once you get past the shelling process, the cooking process is super-easy. For about 6-7oz peas, just boil some water in a saucepan, add the peas and cook them for about 1-2 minutes, until they’re a pretty green. Turn off the heat, strain them to get rid of the water, and then stir in about 1/2Tb butter or margarine. Some people put salt in the water or salt the peas after. Some bypass all that and just eat them raw. Peas are, as always, a “whatever works for you” kind of vegetable.

Everybody liked the peas, but it was clear that the reception was only somewhat better than what we get for the frozen ones heated up in the microwave. For the price difference and the work required, that relegates shell peas firmly to weekend-duty, on an irregular basis. Shell peas may be a treat, but I think I’ve seen now that the myth was more in my head than in the pod.

Adventures in CSA (year 2 week 2): Better in several ways

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Surprisingly, while there was a still a price gap between what I paid and what I got, it was a smaller gap in several ways. First off, I got several things that my grocery store doesn’t actually carry IN-STORE. The easiest way to price these more random items was to find the closest equivalent on the “To Go” portion of their web site, which allows me to see a vastly larger array of produce than what’s available in the store. For example, the spinach (on the stems) and the shell peas were only available on the web site; in store, you can have bagged spinach leaves and bagged (shelled) peas. I used Baby Bok Choi as the closest equivalent for tatsoi on pricing, since it looked just similar enough for these purposes. I’m still in a net negative position, financially, BUT I’m getting things that are harder to find than what I normally come across, and that’s worth something that you can’t really put as much of a price on.

 

Year 2 – Summer Week 2
Weight
(lb)		 Grocery Store Unit Price
(per lb)		 Grocery Store Total Item Cost
Blueberries (pint) 1.00 $4.99 $4.99
Shell Peas 2.25 $2.49 $5.60
Summer Squash 0.89 $1.99 $1.77
Pickling Cucumbers 1.65 $1.99 $3.28
Green Beans 1.00 $1.99 $1.99
Spinach 0.45 $2.98 $1.35
Tatsoi 0.28 $2.99 $0.84
Carrots 0.73 $0.99 $0.73
Grocery Store Total Cost $20.55
Year 2 Summer Week 2 Savings (Deficit) ($1.45)

 

As of Saturday, when I went grocery shopping, we had yet to really dig into this box, since we’re still finishing off LAST week’s box, but I’ve already got my schemes in mind. One suggestion (thanks, Tammy!) was to put a bunch of the items from the box (including the blueberries) into a blender and make a smoothie out of them. I don’t see this as any kind of a cop-out: it’s a great use for fresh fruits and veggies! I have to admit, coming into the grocery store yesterday and filling my cart first with produce, I felt pretty happy about what I was pushing around, seeing how my cart was packed to the gills with all kind of fresh fruits and veggies. Of course, that didn’t completely cancel out the turkey pepperoni and Gatorade I put in the cart right after that…but, oh, don’t judge.

Adventures in CSA (year 2 week 2): Tatsoi ahoy!

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I have to remember not to call this veggie Tetsuo. He was a character from “Akira”. Tatsoi looks a bit like a baby bok choi, although it’s supposed to be something akin to the love child of bok choi and spinach. THAT ALL WORKS FOR ME.

It’s week 2, and we’ve made it through much of what was in our week 1 box. What didn’t go into the stir-fry typically went as a side-dish for dinners, except for the strawberries – which disappeared in near-record time. This week’s box is a mostly green box, accentuated with some interesting splashes of orange, blue and yellow. Man, oh, man…do I ever love seeing all that luscious color splayed out on my counter like a splatter of Pantone chips.

At this point, I don’t yet have an opinion on the value of the box. It weighed more than last week’s box (good!), and it includes something obscure enough that I’m nearly 100% sure I’ll have to check Whole Foods to get a price for it. Some of the items, like green beans and carrots, are fairly cheap, so those always weigh down the value. Still, I’m not in this solely for the financial gain. With the deadline looming for the sign-up for the veggie box program through work, we need to figure out whether we want to stick with what we have now (through our local farm) or if we want to revert back to the prior deal. Decisions, decisions. Well, in the meantime…

Here’s what was in this week’s box:

  • Shell peas
  • Tatsoi
  • Green beans
  • Summer squash (both yellow and green)
  • Carrots
  • Blueberries
  • Spinach
  • Pickling cucumbers
Year 2 Week 2 box contents

Such lovely colors…

I’m scheming on something that may or may not involve the tatsoi, carrots, and summer squash. I’m still thinking on it. The tatsoi is too small to make decent Bok-os with (unless making them appetizer-sized), but that’s okay…it lets me branch out and forces me to be a bit more creative. I like that. Half of the fun of getting a new box every week is in the challenge: “What will I make with THIS stuff?” I prefer not to make the same thing over and over again, since repetition can breed boredom, but certainly I do like to repeat some dishes that have enjoyed good traction with the kids.

Never having pickled, but knowing several people who have, I figure we can come up with a decent solution for the cukes. The blueberries are likely to disappear in dh’s morning cereal, as well as straight from the hand into the bellies of at least several members of the household. And who doesn’t like peas? The peas and green beans are perfect for us, since those are staple veggies in our family. And the summer squash…well, I believe I have a friend they should meet. His name is Ka-Bob.

I can’t say for sure all of what I’ll make with this box, but I’m definitely looking forward to checking out this Tets…tatsoi and seeing just how tasty it can be. Preferably without the futuristic, post-apocalyptic Tokyo setting.